PLAYERS CAN LEARN PLENTY FROM USD’S LINDSEY

When Dale Lindsey, who turns 70 on Friday, accepted the job as head football coach at USD, it took him more than a week before he finally pulled into his reserved parking space.

Senior moment? Not quite.

“I’ve always just been one of the guys,” said Lindsey, who was equally reluctant about moving into the head coach’s office. “The assistants, they’re my guys. I want them to earn my respect because they’ve all earned mine.”

At his essence, Lindsey will always be one of the guys. But last month, he also became one of a kind. After a 38-year career as an assistant coach — which has navigated him through more than a dozen NCAA, NFL, and CFL teams — Dale booked his first head coaching gig on the pro or college level.

The man he replaced was Ron Caragher, who just took over at San Jose State, which finished No. 22 in the country this year. And before him was Jim Harbaugh, who left the Toreros for Stanford and now coaches the 49ers.

So it seemed odd that what has become a steppingstone job would go to a man who, if he ever wanted a higher position, might need an escalating-stone. But does that mean that Lindsey isn’t the right man for the job?

No, it doesn’t. Doesn’t mean that at all.

If you’re looking for experience, Lindsey is your man.

You wouldn’t use an 8½ x 11 sheet of paper for his résumé so much as you would a scroll. He has been a linebackers coach for the Browns, Buccaneers, Packers, Bears and Redskins, a defensive coordinator for the Chargers, Toronto Argonauts and Southern Methodist University, and has held a slew of other positions in the NFL, USFL and World Football League.

Does that make him a jumper? Nah, just a coach.

“I was told that if you’re afraid to move, get out of coaching,” said Lindsey, adding that there are two types of coaches — ones that have been fired, and ones that will be fired. “We used to say that there were the ‘perms’ and the ‘temps.’ The perms were the people that never moved — PR staff and the receptionist and so on. The temps? They were the coaches.”

If you’re looking for humility, Lindsey is your man.

When you’ve been an assistant for nearly four decades, you’ve worked for plenty of coaches who thought themselves infallible.

Lindsey has made clear that his job, as much as anything, is to empower his staff and, in some cases, just get out of the way.

Plus, he’s not shy about taking the occasional jab at himself.

On coaching at 70: “I’m hoping not to represent AARP members with any disrespect.”

On numbness in his fingers: “If I were to pick my nose, it would end up in my brain.”

On age-induced degeneration: “I don’t have any brain damage that I know of, although my wife might disagree. She might say I’m hard of hearing.”

But if you’re looking for a politician, Lindsey is definitely not your man.